A little pirate gets ready to storm the castle! Live update!!!

I love reading TRs and PTRs so I decided to start one of my own. I hope I will have some readers.

The Who:

Me - Joy, wife, mommy and Disney fanatic
DH - Steve, amazing daddy, but only tolerates Disney
Gabe - my wonderful DS who will be almost 3 at the time of our trip. He loves Playhouse Disney, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Handy Manny are his very favorites
Mimi - my wonderful mom and DS's grandmother - she isn't much of a ride person, but she will eat her way around the world
PopPop - my wonderful dad and DS's grandfather - he is the only other Disney lover in the family, but he doesn't love it as much as I do

Here's the whole gang on our last trip. Unfortunately my niece (on the far right) won't be joining us this time:

Here's a recent picture of me and my DS. As you can see he has grown quite a bit since the previous picture:

The When:

We live in South Florida so WDW is only a 2.5 hour drive away so we tend to take shorter trips. For this trip we are staying 4 days and 3 nights - September 15th through the 18th.

The Where:

We are staying at the Caribbean Beach Resort for the first time and I am so excited about it! I think DS is going to love the kids area at the pool. We usually stay at POFQ but I wanted to try something new this time.

Some Background Info:

Even though I grew up in South Florida I only went to Disney a few times. It wasn't until I got a part-time job at the Disney Store during college that I truly fell in love with Disney. My fellow Disney Store CMs and I used to take day trips to WDW pretty frequently and it soon became my favorite place and that has never changed.

As soon as my DS was born I couldn't wait to take him to WDW so we took a family trip when he was 10 months old. We had a wonderful time. I am even more excited about this trip though because this feels like DS's first real trip - this time he will recognize the characters - this time he will really "get it" - I am so excited I can hardly stand it!

Right after I booked our trip I ordered the WDW planning DVD and DS and I have already watched it so many times together. He also loves looking at the park maps that came with the DVD. Here he is looking at the maps:

Now our trip is less than 2 months away and I can't wait to finish planning all the little details.

Thanks for anyone who read this. More will be coming soon if I get any readers.

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The last few weeks have been really fun because I have started shopping for our trip. Why is it that the shopping is one of the funnest parts? This does not bode well for my wallet.

Yesterday I bought DS's Halloween costime. We are going to MNSSHP on our first night so he will wear his costume there and then again at home for Halloween itself. I wanted DS to go as a pirate and I found the CUTEST pants on Etsy - they are to die for cute!

I thought DS could wear the pants with a shirt I just got him at Babies R'Us last week:

And then to top it off I found this darling hat on Etsy:

I can't wait - I think he is going to look too cute! I also got him a foam Pirate sword at Michael's, but I don't think they will be allowed at Disney - does anyone know?

I found this Mickey shirt yesterday and ordered it for DS. I am going to buy him his first pair of Mickey ears on our trip too so it will be perfect!

DS outgrew his stroller recently and we really needed a new one to use for the next few years for places like Disney, the zoo and the mall. I did research nad found one with a 55 pound weight limit for my tall boy. It was available in several colors, but of course I had to get the red and black one - it is MICKEY colors! DS already loves his stroller and pushes his toys around in it all over the house.

I also got myself a few cute new things for the trip - a new Land's End bathingsuit with a skirt to cover my new mommy body laughing and two really cute tops on sale from Anthroplogie. I'll take pictures of those soon if anyone is interested.

Our plans:
Tuesday, September 15th:
Our plans for this day are not concrete and I would love advice on how to spend our afternoon.

We will be leaving home to drive to WDW together in the AM. We live 2.5 hours away so we can be at WDW pretty early, depending on when we leave. The only things set in stone for this day are checking in at CBR and attending MNSSHP that night and eating at Liberty Tree Tavern at 4:30 that afternoon during the party.

What would you do that day before the party? I am thinking about hitting Downtown Disney - where should we each lunch? We won't have park tickets for this day so we need to do something outside of a park.
Wednesday, September 16th:
This is our EPCOT day. We plan on hitting the park in the AM, having lunch at Sunshine Seasons and then going back to CBR to swim and relax.

We have a dinner ADR at Biergarten for 6:30 and then we planning on seeing Illuminations. Believe it or not I have never seen Illuminations.

Thursday, September 17th:
This is our Animal Kingdom Day! AK is my favorite and my dad's favorite so we will be there most of the day. When we're done at AK we will head back to CBR to rest and get ready for our dinner ADRs at O'Hana. The Poly is my dream resort so I'm hoping DH will fall in love with the resort while we're there.

Friday, September 18th:

This is our last day. We are planning on going to HS and then heading home in the afternoon. We have a lunch ADR at Sci-Fi at 11:35. This is also my dad's birthday.

I'm first!! Love the costume! Can't wait to see pics of the party. I am thinking we might go next year during halloween. (I haven't even gotten my trip in this year yet and I am already thinking of next year) Can't wait for more!

I love the shirt of the Mickey Mouse body! Way too cute! and I have to agree that Maclaren strollers are aaawweesome!! I have a 3 year old and one that is 19 months and although short trips around the mall warrant only a single stroller, Disney and such require a more substantial and sturdy stroller so we got a Maclaren Double!! We love It!!

We have reservations for O'hana too although it is for about a week after yours, we loved it the first time we were there and picked that and chef mickey to be our return to eateries. the rest are all new to us. Your plans sound awesome and well thought out. - If you have time and extra money check out BBB in Downtown disney I think they do a pirate theme thing for little boys. We went there with my daughter in 2007 before hitting the halloween party she loved it. (Although boys may find more interest in the lego store next door. lol)

I'm first!! Love the costume! Can't wait to see pics of the party. I am thinking we might go next year during halloween. (I haven't even gotten my trip in this year yet and I am already thinking of next year) Can't wait for more!

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Welcome! Thanks for stopping by! Halloween is our favorite time of year to go. We went to MNSSHP in 2007 and agreed that it was the highlight of our trip. The fall also tends to be a low crowd time so it's perfect. And there is nothing wrong with planning future trips - that's what the Dis is for.

I love the shirt of the Mickey Mouse body! Way too cute! and I have to agree that Maclaren strollers are aaawweesome!! I have a 3 year old and one that is 19 months and although short trips around the mall warrant only a single stroller, Disney and such require a more substantial and sturdy stroller so we got a Maclaren Double!! We love It!!

We have reservations for O'hana too although it is for about a week after yours, we loved it the first time we were there and picked that and chef mickey to be our return to eateries. the rest are all new to us. Your plans sound awesome and well thought out. - If you have time and extra money check out BBB in Downtown disney I think they do a pirate theme thing for little boys. We went there with my daughter in 2007 before hitting the halloween party she loved it. (Although boys may find more interest in the lego store next door. lol)

Keep up the great report and I hope you have a wonderful trip!

Love the pictures!!!

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Thank you for stopping by!!! I love our new Maclaren - I can't believe I had never tried one before this after hearing such great things about them. I am really happy with it already. So you've eaten at O'Hana before? This will be our first time.

Like I said in my first post I fell in love with WDW when I was in college and I dreamed of taking my future children there. Having a child turned out to be a challenge though and it took years of heartbreaking infertility and 2 miscarriages until DH and I finally had our miracle, Mr. Gabriel Micah.

So of course as soon as Gabe was born I started thinking about a trip to Disney and I was able to convince DH to go for 4 days in October 2007 when Gabe was 10 months old.

We went from Thursday - Sunday and stayed at POFQ. We went to MNSSHP our first night and loved it!

My parents decided to join us for 2 days of the trip too (Saturday & Sunday)and they brought along my niece Hannah who was 14 at the time.

Traveling with a baby to WDW is great IMO. It is such a kid friendly place and we really had a wonderful time. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip:

DS in the food court right after we arrived:

Checking out the resort - my DH and DS. DH ended up carrying DS a lot during that trip. Poor guy said his arms were so sore - DS was a baby BEEFCAKE. He weighed 9 lbs 13 oz at birth and was over 20 pounds for sure at the time of this trip.

I can't wait to see what my 1.5 yo does at the MK! I am so excited. We will just miss you though!

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Your 1.5 yo will love it! We took DS again when he was 16 months old and he had a great time.

Well it looks like I am back to the drawing board for a hat for Gabe's costume. I bought the one on Etsy 2 weeks ago and I haven't received it or heard anything from the seller. I messaged the seller on Friday and I haven't heard anything back. I guess I need to file a Paypal claim to get my money back and find something else. Arg! That is my frustated pirate yell.

If anyone sees a cute hat that would go well with the shirt and pants please post it here. Thanks!!!